This invention relates to the field of enclosures for electronic equipment, and particularly to the field of enclosures providing cable management for electronic equipment.
Modem electronic systems often comprise many different subsystems and components. System components are typically mounted in enclosures designed for easy access. Since different systems have different types and sizes of equipment, each possibly requiring different types of cabling, such as twisted pair, shielded, coaxial, and optical, as well as different kinds of equipment to cable connections, it is desirable to provide enclosures usable with a wide range of equipment.
Various enclosures for electronic equipment are available. These enclosures typically provide mounting surfaces for the electronics and apertures for cabling to pass into the enclosure from the outside. A door is usually provided for access to the enclosed electronics. The enclosure may be constructed of steel, wood, plastic or a combination of materials, depending upon its intended use. In most known enclosures, no provision is made for cable management. The user of the enclosure is left to route cables as he or she desires, often resulting in criss-crossed cabling and an unsightly cable arrangement.
Other enclosures provide limited cable management, such as loops to secure cables with plastic tie wraps. While providing the ability to route cables, these systems are labor intensive. The user must manipulate the cables into position, apply the tie wraps, and secure the wraps to the provided loops. Often these enclosures still result in cables traversing across the electronics in an haphazard fashion, so that an individual desiring to install or replace electronics must move the cables before carrying out the intended task. This often requires undoing the tie wraps, performing the desired task, and then replacing the tie wraps.
It is another disadvantage of known cable management systems that they are fixed at the time of manufacture of the enclosure. A user of such an enclosure must route the cabling according to the design of the enclosure. When the design proves to be unsatisfactory, the user must either abandon the dedicated cable management or acquire another enclosure more suitable to the user""s purpose.
Accordingly, there is a need to furnish an integrated cable and management equipment mounting device that can accommodate different types, shapes, and sizes of equipment, while automatically providing for cable management.
An enclosure according to the principles of the invention allows integrated cable management, by automatically providing a cable management area, or trough, between the equipment mounting surfaces and the walls of the enclosure. The enclosure comprises a mounting element, also referred to as a back wall, frontwardly extending end walls, frontwardly extending side walls, and inwardly extending mounting members integral with the side walls. The mounting members are used as a receptacle for modularized equipment mounting surfaces, such as shelves. The equipment mounting surfaces have a periphery defining a trough between a rear portion of the mounting surface and an interior surface of the enclosure back wall, and between a side of the mounting surface and an interior surface of an enclosure side wall. By defining the side of the mounting surface to substantially coincide with a projected plane of the inwardly extending mounting members, a cable management trough is created between the interior portion of the side walls and the side of the equipment mounting surface.
In an exemplary embodiment, a full shelf is mounted to the mounting members and the back wall. The full shelf has a top surface, a front surface, a rear surface and two side surfaces that extend beyond the top surface. The extending side surfaces have tabs that connect to slots in the back wall. By extending the side surfaces, a U-shaped trough is automatically formed between the extended portion of the side surfaces, the rear surface, and the enclosure back wall, when the full shelf is attached. The side surfaces coincide with a planar projection of the inwardly extending mounting members, wherein troughs are also formed along the enclosure side wall. The mounting connections for the mounting surfaces are made without the need of tools, thereby facilitating easy installation and maintenance of equipment mounting surfaces.
It is an advantage of an enclosure according to the principles of the invention that there are many sizes and types of mounting surfaces attachable to the enclosure, permitting use of the enclosure with a wide range of electronic equipment. Each time a mounting surface is attached, a cable management channel is automatically formed in either the back or on the sides or both, thereby providing an enclosure with modular mounting surfaces and integrated cable management.